Last week, a "suspicious device" was found near the intersection of Dakota and Davis by Capital City Health Club. Helena police say that while tips about a potential bomb threat are not uncommon, a situation with an actual device is rare.
“It's an unsophisticated device, I can say that, but it is certainly something that is concerning and potentially damaging to property for sure,” said HPD Lieutenant Adam Shanks.
WATCH - update on "suspicious device" case in Helena:
Shanks said in his 20 years, he’s seen no more than five situations with an actual explosive device with potential criminal intent. He added that the investigation into the recent case is progressing.
“We are still following up on leads on that,” Shanks said. “We have some strong leads that we’re looking into. We feel confident that we're gonna get to the bottom of this, but we just ask for a little bit more time.”
Helena Public Schools said the device included a jug of gasoline and fireworks. It was found on the same day as Helena High School students’ planned walkout in protest against ICE, in the same area of the walkout path.
This prompted school officials to reach out to students to encourage they change their plans. Law enforcement searched along the path of the walkout and found no further causes for concern.
“We set up a perimeter around the device,” Shanks said. “We look for secondary devices. In this case, we looked for secondary devices. Just really an abundance of caution, that this may have been connected to the planned walkout. We still don't know that it was. We have no reason to think it was or evidence to think it was.”
The general response from HPD for explosives is to locate the device, evaluate if it’s hazardous, clear the area, and call in the experts.
The Lewis and Clark County bomb squad was one of the responding agencies, bringing the necessary resources to handle the situation.
“Typically, we’re bringing quite a bit of equipment and knowledge and training with us," explained Sergeant Neil Marks with the Lewis & Clark County Bomb Squad. "So that's the big advantage that we have, is just having the means to deal with an explosive device or potentially hazardous or suspicious item."
Members of the team go through a six-week hands-on course, and they continue to train twice a month.
There are only a few bomb squads in Montana, and the Lewis & Clark team will respond to other jurisdictions as needed.
Both HPD and the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office say if people see a device they think might be a bomb; they should not approach the device, avoid using cellphones or radios near the device, move away from the area calmly but quickly and warn others to do the same, and contact law enforcement as soon as they are in a safe place to do so.
“At this point, we have no reason to suspect there’s any threat to the community at all,” Shanks said. “We do think we have a pretty good handle on what happened here.”
